The Story of Laughing Jack
by BlueRaven666
Summary: A rewritten version of the origin tale of Laughing Jack. This sort of meant to be a version for little kids to read or to have someone read to them. Please Review!


**The Story of Laughing Jack**

Once upon a time, there lived a small boy named Charlie. Charlie was a lonely little boy with no friends and his parents were so busy working they didn't have any time to play with him. Charlie was sad because of this and he wished that someday, somehow, he would have a friend to play with.

One morning, Charlie woke up to find something strange sitting on the floor of his bedroom. It was a small wooden box with many wonderful colors on it. On the top was a small carving that read: Jack-In-a-Box. It was a classic little toy that made Charlie's eyes light up. He instantly grabbed the toy's skinny metal crank and sang along to the happy tune it played.

"All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought t'was all in good fun. 'Pop goes the weasel!'"

At the song's climax, the lid to the wooden box sprung open to reveal a hollow, empty inside.

Charlie was disappointed and threw the box back to the floor of his bedroom.

But when the box clattered to a stop, it jumped up and the crank began to play itself madly. The tune "Pop Goes the Weasel" played until all of its notes slurred together. Suddenly, the top of the box exploded open and out tumbled a little boy who was no older than Charlie himself.

This was a strange little boy. His hair was bright orange in color and he had bright blue eyes. On his face sat a pointy, swirly, rainbow cone-nose. He had a bright red smile that went all the way to his cheeks. On his shoulders sat great big patches of fluff and feathers of many different colors. He wore a lime green and bright yellow shirt with rainbow stripped sleeves. A pair of purple suspenders and a blue belt kept his baggy dark pink pants up so they didn't fall down. He also wore rainbow patterned stockings and a pair of blue boots that seemed to be too big for his little feet.

The little clown-boy stared at Charlie until a big smile appeared in his face.

"Hi!" he squeaked "My name is Laughing Jack, and I'm your new best friend, for life!"

"Best friend?" Charlie asked, "Wait . . . how did you even get here?"

Laughing Jack laughed, "Some would say the stork brought me."

"But you were just in the box, weren't you?"

"Oh yes!" Laughing Jack took Charlie by the hand and walked him over to the box.

"You see?" Laughing Jack said as he picked up the box and pointed to its hollow inside, "I was in there until you let me out. Now we can play!"

There was no telling Laughing Jack to go away, and before long the two friends were playing together. Every day. They'd play hide-and-seek, i-spy, tag, and other fun games. Sadly, though, Charlie's parents never saw Laughing Jack and they simply thought he was some sort of imaginary friend.

Jack and Charlie were the best of friends for the longest time. They grew together, they played together, they slept together, and they told each other secrets and promised to never tell. Laughing Jack was the only friend Charlie had, and Jack only had Charlie and the little wooden box, and that was where Jack would go if he couldn't be with his best friend.

One day, Charlie came home from school with a new friend; a girl with long red hair and bright green eyes. Jack listened from his box as they talked about all the things Charlie would talk about with him, only Charlie never said a word about Laughing Jack.

It was clear to Jack what was happening: Charlie was growing up. Now whenever Jack came out of the box, it was always to talk about the red-haired girl named Maggie, and Laughing Jack started to feel like he was no longer Charlie's best friend.

Then came the day Charlie had to leave for college.

Charlie, now fully grown into a young man, cranked the handle to the colorful wooden box and Laughing Jack tumbled out. Jack was about to greet him with a smile when he noticed the sad look on Charlie's face.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" Laughing Jack asked.

"Well, I'm leaving for college today." Charlie explained, "And you can't come."

Laughing Jack's face fell in shock and sadness, "What? Why? My box isn't _that much_ to carry is it?

"That's just it, Jack; your box. You're always in it and you hardly ever come out. I want you to stay here until I come home. Maybe we can have some fun then.

Sad and unsure of what else he could do, Laughing Jack nodded and disappeared back into his box.

For the longest time, Jack waited in that box. While he was in there, all time stopped inside. But slowly . . . Jack's bright and wonderful colors faded away. His bright orange hair darkened until it was black. His red smile went black. His rainbow cone-nose was now white with a black spiral going around it. All of Laughing Jack's clothing turned into a clash of black, white, and grey. All of his bright happy colors faded into sad colors. Even Jack's bright blue eyes faded to white with black rings around them.

Laughing Jack became lonely. He missed his best friend. He could only sit in his tiny little box until one day—hopefully—his old pal Charlie would return.

One day, the house—long abandoned after the deaths of Charlie's parents—was reopened, and in stepped Charlie; all grown up.

The man came up the steps and found the box. The crank was turned and the top of the box flew open with a puff of grey dust.

Laughing Jack tumbled out of the box with a heavy thump.

Charlie was shocked by his old friend's appearance.

"Jack! What happened to you?"

But Laughing Jack could not answer. His mind was lost in a fog of loneliness and pain. His pale, lifeless eyes looked to the floor as he just sat there.

Charlie knew his old friend was upset, but with the colorless clown as sad as he was now, he couldn't stand it and with tears running down his face Charlie hugged Jack.

"I'm sorry, old friend. I'm so sorry."

At last Laughing Jack said something.

"It's good to see you again, kiddo."

Many years passed, and over those years Laughing Jack's box was passed to Charlie's children, and Charlie's children passed it to their children until it wound up in the hands of a six-year-old named Molly. Molly had long brown hair and big brown eyes.

The little girl happily brought the box to her room the day it was given to her. Sitting on her bed, she cranked the handle and sang along to the old tune it always played.

"All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought t'was all in good fun. 'Pop goes the weasel!'"

At the song's climax the lid sprung open to reveal . . . a hollow inside.

"It's broken . . ." Molly said sadly as she threw the wooden box to the floor of her bedroom.

But when the box clattered to a stop, it jumped up and the crank began to play itself madly. The tune "Pop Goes the Weasel" played until all of its notes slurred together.

Suddenly, the top of the box exploded open and out tumbled . . . Laughing Jack.

The black and white clown had gone back to his younger age; the same age Charlie had been when he had first been given to him.

Jack sat up and stared at the little girl. He looked away from her quickly and tucked his knees close to his chest. He didn't want a new best friend. He didn't want to play. But . . . he also didn't want to be alone.

Molly crawled towards the black and white clown.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Laughing Jack." The clown replied quietly.

"If your name is Laughing Jack, why aren't you laughing?"

"I'm too sad to laugh anymore."

Molly thought for a second before crawling to her bed and pulling out a bucket of hard candies she kept underneath it.

"Candy always makes me happy when I get upset." She said as she scooted the bucket to Laughing Jack, "Have some!"

Laughing Jack didn't want any candy. But he didn't want to block out Molly, either.

He took a red candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. It was tasty and delicious and it did make Laughing Jack much, much happier.

"Hey, Laughing Jack!" Molly squeaked, "Let's be best friends, for life!"

For the first time, Laughing Jack looked to Molly and smiled.

"Sure thing, kiddo . . ."


End file.
